Scope and Content

This archive consists of chiefly unbound professional papers such as scripts, lyrics and music. These documents range in size and quality from complete scripts to unidentified fragments of lyrics. Much of this material is annotated, indicating the processes of drafting and performance. The rest of the collection covers contracts and business papers, correspondence, photographs, press cuttings and promotional material. The collection does also contain a few personal papers, such as copies of her birth, marriage and death certificates, and an identity card for her employment to entertain the troops.

Known as 'the voice of Wales', she became a popular radio personality on programmes including " Welsh Rarebit ", " Variety Bandbox " and " Worker's Playtime ". Her performances were often in the music hall style, making use of her talent for regional dialects and her singing voice. As well as performing material written and adapted for her by writers such as Lew Jacobson, she also wrote some of her own material, most notably the words and music for the song " Barmitzwah Boy ". Her skill for entertaining was made use of during the Second World War, when she was employed by the Entertainments National Service Association ( E.N.S.A.) to entertain the troops.

In 1960 she appeared as the character Elsie Lappin in the first two episodes of long-running television soap opera," Coronation Street ", speaking the first words in the show's history. It was after the release of the films " Under Milk Wood " and " Burke & Hare " in 1972 that she retired to Putney, London, where she lived until her death in 1991.

Arrangement

The original working order of this archive had largely been lost. It has therefore been divided into 9 series: